Originally Posted by
VT_hawkeye
Mid-to-late afternoon and Monticello are your deciders here. If you get in any time between 3 and 6, it will take you just as long to get to Quantico from IAD or DCA as it would from RIC, but from RIC you'll at least be moving. I don't think slawecki's road signage concerns are really that big a deal; north out of RIC on VA 156 (the exit everyone uses) past I-64 to I-295 north to I-95, then the reverse coming back.
If you know you'll do Monticello, as a local I would suggest putting CHO in the mix on similar terms as RIC. It's 20 minutes farther from Quantico, but the extreme simplicity of CHO (6 gates, rental cars right outside the terminal door, right-right-left and you're on US 29 north) vs. RIC (more tangled access than an airport that size really merits) is worth it.
I don't recall the tangled access you are refering to with RIC. Did something change there? Last time I flew from their was about 8 years ago. I've gone there from different directions..from when I lived in Fredericksburg and when I lived in Norfolk area. What I didn't do was rent a car from there.
Late afternoon drive you should be fine with traffic driving up from RIC. The only issue is if you choose hotel options in stafford or Fredericksburg then you will run into commuter traffic going to/ from quantico. If you chose a hotel look on the north side of quantico in dumfries or Woodbridge.
Unsure when you are traveling....be careful not to try and do monticello on a day of a UVA home football game.